"You are right," said Hester; "I do not love lord Gartley sufficiently
for that! Thank you, Miss Vavasor, you have helped me to the thorough
conviction that there could never have been any real union between us.
Can a woman love with truest wifely love a man who has no care that she
should attain to the perfect growth of her nature? _He_ would have
been quite content I should remain for ever the poor creature I
am--would never by word, or wish, or prayer, have sought to raise me
above myself! The man I shall love as I could love must be a greater man
than lord Gartley! He is not fit to make any woman love him so. If she
were so much less than he as to have to look up to him, she would be too
small to have any devotion in her. No! I will be a woman and not a
countess!--I wish you good morning, Miss Vavasor."
"If I am not to help him," she said to herself, "what is there in reason
why I should marry him? His love, no doubt, is the best thing he has to
give, but a poor thing is his best, and save as an advantage for serving
him, not worth the having." What her love to him would have been three
months after marrying him, I am glad to have no occasion to imagine.
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